Lot 1684
France. 20 Francs, 1840-A (Paris). Fr-560; KM-750.1. Weight 0.1867 ounce. Louis Philippe I. PCGS graded AU-55. In special PCGS Ship of Gold holder which contains One Pinch of Gold Dust recovered from the S.S. Central America treasure.
Special PCGS number 674267.55/35474726. Estimated Value $500 - UP
Following Napoleon Bonaparte's escape from the island of Elba and abortive return to power in 1815, he was exiled to the small island of St. Helena, where he died and was buried in 1821. Both the British and the restored Louis XVIII refused to permit the repatriation of the Emperor's remains to France on the grounds that it would almost certainly incite political unrest. During the July Revolution of 1830, the revolutionaries included the return of Napoleon 's remains as one of their demands, but this was only undertaken by the July Monarch, Louis-Philippe, a decade later as part of his attempt to regain "all the glories of France." In a remarkable piece of political theater, the body of Napoleon was exhumed on St. Helena and transported to Paris in October 1840 for reburial in a lavish ceremony. The Emperor's remains were subsequently interred in an impressive sarcophagus at the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris.
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| Realized $1,440 |
